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TEN THINGS I WISH I KNEW TEN YEARS AGO

So this past Saturday, the very first arm of
the Birthplace (Eagle’s soar) marked her 10th year anniversary. It’s
been a journey of growth, trust and capacity building for me. I’m saying a huge
thank you to everyone who made it to the conference.

I understand that
most young people are beginning to find boldness in their callings and
launching businesses, non-governmental organizations and others. This makes me so happy. If you fall in the above category, I have
written this post to encourage you and share some of my lessons with you.

I wish I knew

1.That dreams cost everything:

Granted, I knew my calling/the Birthplace would require sacrifices. I just
didn’t know it will require everything.
I‘ve had to empty my bank many times to see that we make impart. I’ve had to
let go relationships I considered dear but unhealthy, I’ve had my fair share of
sleepless nights and sometimes I needed to give up my idea of “fine girl” just to make sure I see lives fulfill their
destinies. Many times I cried when I had to let people go or give up so much
than I felt necessary; but I often thought about how it would feel to finally
see all God intended to do with me playout.

On
your journey, be prepared to give up anything. Sentiments would burn you if you
ignore this truth. Dreams cost everything to move from paper to playoutTM

No
one not even God will coerce you into scheduling responsibilities and keeping
up with plans and projects. You would
have to push yourself consistently. At first, I thought I was always going to
want to do what’s required of me. Not until I had days when preparing and
writing content for mentoring courses, blogging, speaking engagements, planning
conferences/outreaches clash with deadlines on my secular job/career. Oh wait,
do I have to talk about moments when the girl thing (menstrual cramps), come at
me like a ferocious foe when I have a speaking engagement to prepare for or
book writing to wrap up? Or would you
want to hear about how I had to host one of the eagle’s soar conferences soon
after a heart break? In all of those times, I have had to pull through and do
the needful irrespective of how I felt.
Consistency/commitment to your goals is a choice. You must choose in favour
of your goals/dream/vision daily.

I
actually thought once you have the “money”, you can do things excellently cos good
things cost money. However, I learnt that excellence
is a spirit cultivated, a skill learnt and an attitude imbibed. I learnt to
maximize the resources within my capacity at each moment such that we get the most
possible excellent results. My counsel would be, before embarking on anything,
ask these questions. Is this the best quality our money can afford? Is this the
best personnel within our reach? Is this the best?

Ask
the right questions always with “what’s the best right now mentality?”

I
noticed how the Lord plants desires in my heart each time I’m due for a
stretch/growth. However the desires weren’t automatically granted. With each
desire came a new semester of several courses, lessons and tests that I had to pass
in order to adequately build capacity for the desired level.

Regardless
of what your organization, vision or goal is about? You will have to become (grow) before you can begin (cause growth) in
your organization. If I knew this ten years ago, I would not have cried during
my tests or spent time wondering if God was on vacation.

(Laughs)

So
relax and enjoy the stretching seasons and there will be many of them if you’re
going to birth something solid.

I
know you’ve probably heard this before but do you lead your life like you know
opportunities won’t scream their identities to your face? Folks often tell us,
when it’s time for something, you will know. You will sense it. You will feel
it; and I walked into my calling with that mentality. Listen honey, that’s a
myth. You won’t often “know” by intuition when an opportunity comes. You will only recognize those opportunities
that you have prepared for. How/what are you preparing for?

Sometimes
we are tempted to wait until we are surely sure about how things will play out before
we head out. If you’re waiting to be surely sure all the time, there’s little
you can do at the end of time. Ten years ago, I thought I needed to know
everything in order to effectively execute the mission of the birthplace and so
I read voraciously. However, I soon learnt that even though there are
applicable lessons you might draw from others; your own journey is unique. Did
those plenty reading help? Yes! Where they necessary? Yes! Where they
indispensible? NO!

When
we try to know everything, we might become too overwhelmed with information
such that we end up doing little because we are become overly careful of making
mistakes. So study, prepare, pray and trust the one who called and is leading you.
Christians can’t rule out the place of faith in God no matter what area of life
we’ve been called to serve in.

I
was aware that people eventually notice when one is doing something good or
bad; but that people are taking notes of when and how I did things? I’m not
sure I knew that will happen. Many times people I don’t recognize come to say
they’ve watched me for years and they wanted to thank me for being consistent.
They go on to tell how seeing me do what I do over time has inspired them to
stay committed to their purposes. Perhaps if I knew earlier that this would be,
I would be more committed to my calling. (Laughs)

I’ve
never done a birthplace event without assistance from others. My team is made
up of human beings with diverse capacity, potential and resource. I can’t be
the protocol officer, the speaker, the liason officer, the financier all at the
same time.

If there is anything you would
need on your journey, it is the gift of men.

At
the start I knew I needed to collaborate or partner with people or organizations,
I just didn’t understand how truly indispensable that is until I came to points
where partnership/collaborations saved the day. I’m presently looking out for
organizations/ individuals to collaborate/partner with for mutual benefit and efficiency.

At
this point, I must say a big thank you to everyone who’s ever served on our
volunteer team or donated a kobo to help execute the mission. THANK YOU SO
MUCH!

Ten years ago, I thought with the
years come increase. I was so wrong. I soon learnt that there are principles
that must be adhered to move an organization from one point to the other. From conference
attendance to structure of an event to every detail you can think about,
progress or increase is never by accident.What progress do you want to make on
your organization or personally? Put your heart to it and deliberately take
steps towards it.

I have gone from trusting God for
little things to trusting Him for bigger things. Earlier, I thought the first
test on trusting the Lord to provide would be all. How wrong I was to notice a
consistent pattern of faith-required-situations each year. with every project,
event or programme, irrespective of how well I appear to prepare there was
always something I couldn’t help myself with. I must confess that I like it
this way because it prevents me from growing independent of the Lord.

Does any of these lessons resonate
with you on any level? I will like to hear from you.

Hi Anonymous. LOLAmen on the prayers.I don't know if it showed. I just know I WAS NOT trying to hide how i felt (sad), I was more conscious of ensuring the pain in my heart didn't get in the way of what God had to do for the people.Perhaps you could watch the video of me teaching during the conference and let me know if you can decipher. LOLso here is the link to my Fresh outta "wound" land sermonhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AZV1PPHbUEHugs

I consider it a
huge privilege to be God’s mouthpiece on earth. I pretty much like that I have
to learn from Him and the capable others he has planted in my life while
passing on this knowledge to others as He wills. Being His
mouthpiece means I have to travel, meet people, and go to places are like or
not like (yes sometimes you don’t feel like being somewhere). This exposes me to a whole lot of information
and helps me build valuable relationships. I’ve been a guest
minister to many in the last twelve (12) years of my life. Pretty much since I was
a teenager. I’ll like to share with you a few things I believe young people
should never do when they are out as guest ministers. 1.Don’t Isolate yourself from responsibilities There
are times when the host might place you in their home or someone else’s rather
than a hotel. Most young people tend to cross their legs and wait for breakfast
in bed like the anointing would lift if they picked up a pin. When
you’re placed in a home rather tha…

“If
this life has anything to gain at all, I’ll count it lost if I can’t hear you
feel you, cause I need you…” rang my amazing ringtone by Lecrae. I
picked up the sleek darling to see who misses me. It was this pretty friend of
mine. Ada
(Not real name) and I met at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in our first
year. We had a lot in common and she was just my type (whatever that means)
LOL. Anyway, I was (and still am) literally and figuratively in love
with God and I noticed her heart was committed to God and His standards too. Well,
we graduated four years later and you know how life happens. We haven’t really
kept in touch for a while. I heard sometime back that she was engaged and I
called to say congratulations. We talked about how life had been
since after school and how we both are still fervently loving and serving the
Lord. She said her wedding was three months away and I told her I definitely
needed the aso-ebi (A uniform material sold to people who wish to attend an
event). T…